Aaron Brown leads trio of Canadian men into 200m semis at World Athletics Championships

Click on the video player above to watch live action form the afternoon session at the World Athletics Championships, which begin at 12:50 p.m. ET and will be hosted by CBC Sports' Anastasia Bucsis.

There will be plenty of Canadian content in the men's 200-metre semifinals at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

Sprinters Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, and Andre De Grasse all qualified for the semis with their results in Wednesday's heats in the Hungarian capital.

Toronto's Brown had the fastest time among the three Canadians, posting a 20.08-second time and finishing second in his heat, and fourth overall.

Rodney, of Etobocoke, Ont., posted a season's best time of 20.18, good enough for the sixth-fastest time in the heats.

Reigning Olympic champion De Grasse, of Markham, Ont., finished in 20.28 and was 12th among all sprinters.

Sha'Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles each kicked off their quest for a second medal at the world championships by easily winning their 200m heats.

Richardson finished in 22.16 seconds and Lyles in 20.05 in a pair of no-drama returns to the track after they gave the United States the first sweep of the 100m at a worlds since 2017, when Justin Gatlin and Tori Bowie won in London.

Three women who have run faster than Richardson in the 200 this year — Jamaica's Shericka Jackson, St. Lucia's Julien Alfred and the United States' Gabby Thomas — also qualified easily.

Defending 800-metre Olympic and world champion Athing Mu, who wavered on running at the worlds through much of the summer, showed up and won her opening heat.

Heats for the women's 5,000 metres, where Faith Kipyegon opens her quest for a second medal after winning the 1,500 on Tuesday, were moved to the evening session because of